Dala Metall has secured a six-year exploration license covering nearly 33 square kilometers near Ridder in eastern Kazakhstan. The company’s primary targets are the Starkovskoye deposit and the East Starkovskoye mineral occurrence, where Soviet geologists once overlooked gold that has now become the project’s main exploration focus.
The program will begin with a comprehensive review of historical geological records. Specialists will analyze exploration data collected between 1970 and 2022, carry out verification drilling, and reassess the area’s gold, silver, and polymetallic mineral resources. Particular attention will be paid to the so-called iron caps—oxidized upper sections of ore bodies where elevated precious metal grades were identified in earlier exploration campaigns.
One of the project’s most significant aspects is the change in economic assumptions. During the Soviet era, ore containing less than 3 grams of gold per tonne was generally considered uneconomic. Today, the cut-off grade has been reduced tenfold to 0.3 g/t, reflecting higher global gold prices and major advances in mineral processing technologies.
The license area still contains substantial unexplored potential. In particular, the third mineralized zone has received very little exploration despite the encouraging results obtained from neighboring structures. Dala Metall intends to close these geological knowledge gaps through its new exploration campaign.
Dala Metall is part of the Hi-Teck Qazaqstan group. The holding company is best known for developing renewable energy projects, having built more than 170 MW of solar power capacity in Kazakhstan. Through Dala Metall, beneficiaries Sergey Chaizhunusov and Nurlan Kapenov are expanding into the mining industry, diversifying their portfolio from renewable energy into base and precious metals.
The historic deposit near Ridder is receiving a second chance. Higher gold prices and a fresh evaluation of decades-old geological archives are transforming ore once considered uneconomic into a promising exploration asset at the intersection of mining and sustainable investment.
Source: qazba.kz
Image: AI-generated
